Arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor’s mansion, suspect in custody – National & International News – MON 14Apr2025
Arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor’s mansion, suspect in custody.
Harvard defies Trump admin demands, has funding pulled.
Arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor’s mansion, suspect in custody
Early Sunday morning, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, his wife and four children, and several guests were awoken and evacuated from the governor’s mansion after an arsonist broke in and set a fire in one of the rooms. Hours earlier, Shapiro, who is Jewish, had hosted a Passover seder for his family and guests.
The fire, set using beer bottles and gasoline, did serious damage to the residence’s piano room and dining room. Shapiro’s family and guests were asleep at the other end of the 29,000 square foot mansion when the alarm was raised. There were no injuries.
Police soon had a suspect in custody, 38-year-old Cody Balmer. Balmer turned himself in after a tip from someone claiming he had confessed to the crime. During a police interview, Balmer said he would have beaten Shapiro with a hammer if he had found him inside the residence, according to the probable cause affidavit. Police also say Balmer admitted “harboring hatred” for Shapiro.
While the motive is not clear, Balmer has previously been charged in an unrelated assault. According to members of his family, he also has a history of mental illness and had not been taking his medication. However, Balmer denied during an arraignment that he had any such illness.
Balmer has been charged with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated arson, terrorism, burglary and other counts in connection with Sunday’s attack.
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Harvard defies Trump admin demands, has funding pulled
Harvard University has rejected demands from the Trump administration to place limits on speech and activism on its campus. As a result, the administration announced this afternoon that it would be pulling about $2.2 billion in government funds from Harvard.
A five-page memo listing 10 demands from the Trump administration included provisions which appeared to target pro-Palestine activists. Other provisions targeted DEI, while, curiously, other provisions aimed to promote “viewpoint diversity” among both staff and students as well as teaching programs. This provision and another demanding that the university act to prevent “deplatforming” employ language that seems to cater towards conservatives who have claimed to feel marginalized at institutions of higher learning.
The demand for “viewpoint diversity” did not extend to any individuals or groups that the government considers to be “hostile to American values” or “antisemitic”. The Trump administration has detained many students on charges that they “held antisemitic views” or “supported terrorism”, when there was no evidence to show they had done anything more than criticize Israel’s 18-month military assault on Gaza.
Harvard’s president Alan Garber wrote in a letter that the administration’s demands violated the university’s policies of academic freedom and freedom of speech. “No government- regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”. Garber also pointed out that the university had already taken steps to combat “antisemitism” on campus. Garber’s predecessor Claudine Gay lost her job after Harvard donors accused her of not doing enough to crack down on student protests.
Harvard is the first major university to reject these demands from the Trump administration. Columbia University, which was the epicenter of the 2024 pro-Palestinian student protest movement, recently caved to the administration’s demands, even after their funding was pulled preemptively.
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